Thursday, February 28, 2013

"U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned Lebanese leaders Wednesday that they must
adhere to their declared neutrality on the Syrian civil war.
The advice came amid reports that the fighting could spill over the border into Lebanon.
“The reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict
in Syria is contrary to Lebanon’s policy of disassociation,” Ban said in
a report to the U.N. Security Council.
The U.N. secretary general expressed “grave concern” at reports of
Lebanese being killed in Syria and “further deaths of Hezbollah members
fighting inside Syria.”
“The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and indeed of continued
cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon all Lebanese
political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral in respect of
external conflicts,” Ban said." What business is it for Ki-moon, to comment on Lebanese foreign policy? And what business is it for Ki-moon if a member of the UN does not want to pursue a policy of neutrality? I mean, would he dare say that US lack of neutrality in the Arab-Israeli conflict has been disastrous for the US? He would be locked up in Guantanamo. Also, how come he only named Hizbullah members but not the scores who were killed from the pro-March 14 Salafite elements??

"The
reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict in
Syria is contrary to Lebanon's policy of disassociation," Ban said in a
report to the UN security council on Wednesday.
More than 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, which has been bitterly divided by the 23-month-old conflict.
The
UN secretary general expressed "grave concern" at reports of Lebanese
being killed in Syria and "further deaths of Hezbollah members fighting
inside Syria".
"The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and
indeed of continued cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon
all Lebanese political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral
in respect of external conflicts," Ban said.
- See more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanon-must-be-neutral-in-syria-un/story-e6freoo6-1226587562478#sthash.BqJ0Vezh.dpuf

"The
reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict in
Syria is contrary to Lebanon's policy of disassociation," Ban said in a
report to the UN security council on Wednesday.
More than 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, which has been bitterly divided by the 23-month-old conflict.
The
UN secretary general expressed "grave concern" at reports of Lebanese
being killed in Syria and "further deaths of Hezbollah members fighting
inside Syria".
"The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and
indeed of continued cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon
all Lebanese political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral
in respect of external conflicts," Ban said.
- See more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanon-must-be-neutral-in-syria-un/story-e6freoo6-1226587562478#sthash.BqJ0Vezh.dpuf

"The
reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict in
Syria is contrary to Lebanon's policy of disassociation," Ban said in a
report to the UN security council on Wednesday.
More than 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, which has been bitterly divided by the 23-month-old conflict.
The
UN secretary general expressed "grave concern" at reports of Lebanese
being killed in Syria and "further deaths of Hezbollah members fighting
inside Syria".
"The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and
indeed of continued cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon
all Lebanese political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral
in respect of external conflicts," Ban said.
- See more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanon-must-be-neutral-in-syria-un/story-e6freoo6-1226587562478#sth

"The
reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict in
Syria is contrary to Lebanon's policy of disassociation," Ban said in a
report to the UN security council on Wednesday.
More than 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, which has been bitterly divided by the 23-month-old conflict.
The
UN secretary general expressed "grave concern" at reports of Lebanese
being killed in Syria and "further deaths of Hezbollah members fighting
inside Syria".
"The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and
indeed of continued cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon
all Lebanese political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral
in respect of external conflicts," Ban said.
- See more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanon-must-be-neutral-in-syria-un/story-e6freoo6-1226587562478#sthash.BqJ0Vezh.dpuf

"The
reported involvement of certain Lebanese elements in the conflict in
Syria is contrary to Lebanon's policy of disassociation," Ban said in a
report to the UN security council on Wednesday.
More than 300,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, which has been bitterly divided by the 23-month-old conflict.
The
UN secretary general expressed "grave concern" at reports of Lebanese
being killed in Syria and "further deaths of Hezbollah members fighting
inside Syria".
"The dangers for Lebanon of such involvement and
indeed of continued cross-border arms smuggling are obvious. I call upon
all Lebanese political leaders to ensure that Lebanon remains neutral
in respect of external conflicts," Ban said.
- See more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanon-must-be-neutral-in-syria-un/story-e6freoo6-1226587562478#sthash.BqJ0Vezh.dpuf

"In addition to fame, “Indignez-Vous!” brought significant criticism to
Mr. Hessel — from those who felt his screed was merely indignant and not
in any way prescriptive and especially from those who disagreed with
his views on Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Hessel, whose father was
Jewish but whose mother was not, said in interviews that he was a lover
and defender of Israel, but he was still accused of anti-Semitism."

From Alan: "In case you missed this story as reported today by Al Akhbar. Please note
especially the comment below by the Israeli police officer - disgusting.

Palestinian assailed by Israeli women, stripped of hijab
"A
Palestinian woman waiting at a light rail station in Jerusalem on Monday was
attacked and stripped of her headscarf by religious Jewish women, Israeli
newspaper Ma’ariv reported Tuesday................On the day the report was
published, Israeli police officer Ariel Shapiro re-posted the article on his
Facebook page and issued a chilling endorsement: "Very good," wrote Shpiro "It's
a shame that the Arab whore didn't die." "

From "Ibn Rushd": "did you notice that the UAE, like Israel, uses the silly "delegitimation"
argument. I wonder if they have the same PR firms. "Towards the end of last week the UAE authorities intervened and said no
discussion of Bahrain would be allowed. Rather than accept what it regarded as a
restriction on academic freedom, the LSE pulled out, causing the conference to
be cancelled. A
statement issued by the UAE foreign ministry on Monday said Ulrichsen "has
consistently propagated views de-legitimising the Bahraini
monarchy". It continued:"

"Unknown to him, as the battle over the creation of the Jewish state raged, teams of Israeli librarians and soldiers were collecting tens of thousands of books from Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa and elsewhere -- including 256 from Barghouti's home in the Katamon neighbourhood.
For Israel, the effort was a way to preserve books which would eventually be returned to their owners. But for the Palestinians, it was theft." How can it be regarded as anything but theft?

From Jeorg in Berlin: ""The French left as well as the the right have dreams of imperial expansion. A
number of NATO participants share a vision of the Mediterranean as a NATO lake,
an internal sea, surrounded by Europe. The dream is to extend Europe around the
entire coast of the Mediterranean and over North Africa. The French decision to
send troops to Mali must be considered in this context.""

"They’ve been spotted quite far afield from the border helping out government
forces and that is something that has really deepened sectarian animosity both
in Syria and here in Lebanon."And before the spotting by Cambanis, sects in Lebanon lived harmonusly and amicably. And when they fought in the 19 century, it was also due to Hizbullah intervention in Syria. (thanks Nir)

From Carlos: ""Of course, the system of the Catholic Church doesn’t resemble Tunisia or
Egypt so much as an absolute monarchy like Saudi Arabia. In both places there
are no genuine reforms, just minor concessions. In both, tradition is invoked to
oppose reform. In Saudi Arabia tradition goes back only two centuries; in the
case of the papacy, 20 centuries.
Yet is that tradition true? In fact, the church got along for a millennium
without a monarchist-absolutist papacy of the kind we’re familiar with today."

From a reader: "Israeli settler tells the Palestinian farmers: "Listen, my fathers are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now you listen to me.
Soon the Messiah will come. He'll be here any minute. You understand this well.
It's also written in the Koran. When the Messiah comes, you'll be our slaves.
... You'll all be our slaves, if you're worthy, if you behave
well."

* Click on the "CC" button at the lower right
corner on the player to see the English translation."

""They are getting better at basic infantry tactics," said Jeff
White, a military analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"I've seen videos of tank training, maintenance, and tank-to-tank engagements,
including one where rebels took out a government tank from about 1,000 meters" –
about six-tenths of a mile."

""Two major Chinese military websites, including that of the Defense
Ministry, were subject to about 144,000 hacking attacks a month last year,
almost two-thirds of which came from the United States, the ministry said on
Thursday."" (thanks Amir)

The Qatari dictatorship prosecuted and convicted and sentenced a Qatari poet for "insulting" the unelected ruler. I am told that a number of Arab intellectuals, especially intellectuals with the Syrian exile opposition, refused to sign a petition in his support. We should start a petition on line against the Qatari ruler.

I read that the lousy Syrian regime "denounced" the decision by Israel to begin oil exploration in the Golan heights. Denounce wlah?? Denounce? That lousy cowardly regime, which specializes in protecting Israel while reserving its firepower for internal domestic purposes, forgot that the Golan is Syrian territory? By the way, the Asad family rule did not lose the Golan once: it lost it twice in 1967 and 1973.

"Sectarianism was a theme sounded Wednesday by the leader of Hezbollah,
the powerful Lebanese Shiite militant organization that has aligned
itself with Mr. Assad. “We do not want to attack anybody,” the leader,
Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised speech. “But at the same time, let
no one miscalculate with us.”" This is such a mischaracterization of the words of Nasrallah: the entire speech was warning against sectarian discord and conflict. How did the New York Times office in Beirut (headed by a woman who does not know a word of Arabic) decide that "sectarianism was a theme" in the speech?

It is rather hilarious that when the West picks a native puppet as a leader for some shop, Western pundits immediately rush to offer words of praise about the selected person, even if that person is Karzai or Chalabi or Sanyurah or Fayyad. The recent case is Ahmad Mu`adh Al-Khatib. I read several people (who don't know Arabic) talk about how he is a great orator and that his speeches at the Umayyad mosque must have been mesmerizing. Well, no: appointment to senior clerical roles under the Asad regime are based on loyalty to the regime and not on talents or oratorical skills. In fact, Al-Khatib is a lousy speaker. But then again: who cares when the Cicero of Syria is cited right and left.

"One of the less-reported stories of Oscar season was the nomination of the remarkable Palestinian film Five Broken Cameras
in the documentary category. Emad Burnat, the film's protagonist and
co-director, filmed five years of unarmed protests against land
confiscation and the building of the separation wall in his West Bank
village of Bil'in.
When Emad, his wife and 8-year-old son Gibreel arrived in Los Angeles
to attend the award ceremony, they were detained and questioned at the
airport. Despite the fact that Emad had his official Oscar invitation,
they were threatened with deportation by immigration officials, who
apparently could not believe a Palestinian could be nominated for an
Oscar.
Of course, this wasn't a new experience for Emad or his family. "This
is a daily occurrence for Palestinians, every single day, throughout
the West Bank," Emad said in a statement after the incident.
"There are more than 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks and other
barriers to movement across our land, and not a single one of us has
been spared the experience that my family and I experienced yesterday.
Ours was a very minor example of what my people face every day."" (thanks Deepa)

""Egyptian forces flooded some of the tunnels earlier this
month. "The court ruled to make it obligatory that the government destroys the
tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip," Judge Farid Tanaghou said. An
estimated 30 percent of goods that reach Gaza's 1.7 million Palestinians come
through the tunnels, circumventing a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt for
more than seven years.""

""But there's no question, as Rosenberg notes, that "throughout the
war, the United States military and the CIA have organized and trained
clandestine militias. A number still operate, and remain beyond the knowledge or
control of the Afghan government." Recall that the CIA got caught making
payments for years to Karzai's suspected drug-running brother, Ahmed, "for a
variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force
that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of
Kandahar". These are the US-controlled militias, beyond the authority of the
Afghan government, on which the US intends to rely if and when it "withdraws"
from that country.""

""4,688 That's the latest
estimate from Hans Kristensen at the Federation of American Scientists. If, like
me, you don't have a security clearance, this is the closest we can get to an
understanding of how many nuclear weapons the United States currently maintains
in its arsenal: [T]he size of the stockpile is important because although the
administration has declassified 64 years of its history, its current size is –
yes, you guessed it – still a secret. In fact, officials have told us that the
2010 disclosure was a one-time decision, not something that would be updated
each year. So all stockpile numbers after September 2009 are still secret. Deep
in the dark corridors of the Pentagon there are still people who believe this is
necessary for national security.""

From Amir: "" "The United States' commitment to the central Africa region and
to Africa is long term," said Brig. Gen. Peter Corey, deputy commander of U.S.
Army Africa (USARAF), who spoke during the event.""

"On Tuesday, meanwhile, the coalition was forced to backtrack from
earlier claims that Taliban violence had decreased across Afghanistan in
2012, citing a math error.
Coalition officials had said Taliban attacks decreased by 7% in 2012,
bolstering U.S. claims that the insurgency was weakening. However, in
response to inquiries from the Associated Press, the coalition said it
had made a mistake in its reporting and that there was no decrease."

From Don in Berlin: "The
first rocket since the ceasefire came into effect was fired from Gaza yesterday.
It landed outside Ashkelon not
causing any damage. As expected the event was widely reported and discussed in
the western media. What they did not report the last three months and most media
outlets even forgot to mention now, are the astounding more than 100 ceasefire
violations by Israel that have been recorded since November. Four Palestinians
have been killed in Gaza by Israeli soldiers and more then 90 were (really)
injured during that time.Ben
White has an interesting info graphic about this in his Aljazeera Online Oped:
It "depicts the number of attacks on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military
during this three-month period, as well as the number of Palestinian attacks
emanating from Gaza. Since late November, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip
have averaged over one a day, every day”.OccupiedPalestine
Blog has done a really great job documenting attacks and violations in
detail :

From Basim: "Members of the UAE branch of the Muslim Brotherhood still pledge allegiance
to its leader in Egypt, an expert on the Islamist political group has alleged.
To swear allegiance to Mohammed Badie, the Brotherhood's leader since 2010,
members sit on the floor of a darkened room in front of a round table with a gun
and a Quran, "representing religion and power", Mr Al Kharbawi told an audience
at a seminar at Zayed University.

"To give allegiance to someone else? A duplication in
allegiance is very dangerous." Dr Salem Humaid, founder of Al Mezmaah
Studies and Research Centre, who organised the seminar, said: "This was not
known to us, we now know. This is dangerous."

With Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and
Scientific Research, in the seminar audience, Mr Al Kharbawi spoke of the
Brotherhood's history in the UAE and the dangers it posed."

From Martin: "I found it a bit surprising that you would give much credence to the article
about the Russian ships in Syria – it’s a bit questionable in my opinion.
According to the author’s stellar and cutting edge analysis, the dilapidated
vessels are solely in the region to fulfill Russia’s desperate need to
re-emphasize its global military superiority. He seems to disenfranchise them
from any motive to provide tangible aid to their strategic ally. Old rickety
naval relics? Fine…but he himself stated their eligibility as freighters and
cargo ships. Isn’t the use of non civilian transport mediums that cannot be
stopped, scrutinized, seized, or intercepted in international waters/airspace
just what the doctor ordered for the hardware/ordnance hungry Syrian government?
Look how Lavrov and his foreign ministry colleagues scramble to make profuse
excuses about how their “routine weapons” shipments are merely the fulfillment
of old existing contracts – the Russian’s seem really averse to this sort of PR
so they might see such disguises and theatrics as necessary for
“special/unscheduled” parcels.

Anyway I’m no expert on maritime
law nor on the nature of the current restrictions or pressures on Russian air
and sea traffic to and from Syria so i could be spitting in the wind here, but
the plane intercepted in Turkish airspace and the ship carrying Syrian
helicopters that was forced to return to Russia come to mind…..just thought id
throw it out there if you ever get to reading this".

"Gulf tourists spent the most amount of money per head in the UK in 2011
as tourists spending power reached a record GBP£18.5bn (US$27.9bn), according to
new data.Tourists from the oil-rich GCC spent GBP£442 per head followed by
visitors from Nigeria (GBP£432) and China (GBP£405), the UK’s main tourist body
VisitBritain said."

When armed groups are accused of committing massacres, Human Rights Watch (even in communication with me) claims that it will investigate. I have not yet heard of one conclusive report on massacres or car bombs by armed groups. In fact, they claim it is not easy to investigate in Syria due to the dangers. But when the government commits a war crimes (as it habitually does), Human Rights Watch finishes its investigation in a matter of days: "“The extent of the damage from a single strike, the lack of aircraft in
the area at the time, and reports of ballistic missiles being launched
from a military base near Damascus..." So if there are "reports" why investigate? Just publish those reports. But please tell me: what are those reports?

The headline in the New York Times says: "Israel Struck by Rocket From Gaza After a Death."
The text of the story says: "Israel has violated the cease-fire several times by firing on fishermen
and farmers approaching newly relaxed security perimeters, but the
agreement has otherwise held."

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

There is no such organization by the name of Friends of Hamas but there is a real American organization called "Friend of the Israeli Defense Forces" and contributions to the Israeli terrorists is tax deductible. Several Palestinians were prosecuted in California years ago because they attended a party for the PFLP. This is American justice.

By the way, lest there be confusion or misunderstanding, Dany, the Hizbullah fighter/commander who appears on recent Western articles on Hizbullah, is not to be confused with his comrade, Billy Bob of Hizbullah.

"Dexter at this point faces a crucial choice: He was apparently not granted access to Hizbullah “officials” for his New Yorker piece and instead relied on ONE anonymous source (first described as an “officer” then later a “commander”) “Dany” for the entire several thousand word part about Hizbullah and its own thinking (Dani, of course, also seems to turn up with similar quotes in a McClatchy piece a day later, strangely enough).
This Dany, as detailed below on the blog, has numerous, sometimes hilarious, holes in his story which anyone who has been in Lebanon for more than a year or two will spot – Dany seems to have been a child soldier for hizbullah at the age of nine; he forgets to tell the unknowing Filkins that Israel actually would have invaded his border village in 1978 and not 1982 since Israel established its “security zone” in 1978 – filkins apparently does not know this basic history – and Dany says he literally fought the IDF in 2006 at the Hizbullah disneyland museum in mleeta…etc etc)Instead of coming clean, Filkins goes with Mitchell’s lead in question:
“It’s really dangerous for them, they dont want any one to know about it [fighting for Assad]“
Filkins essentially deceives Mitchell who may have thought that he met with Hizbullah “officials” for his big piece… but actually, he only met an anonymous Dany in their officialdom – also described as a mere fighter – who does not pass the smell test for much of anything – and who is NOT an “official” in any case.
And please, leave out the hope that Filkins could be on OK journalistic grounds with his confident answer of WHAT HIZBULLAH is thinking, deeply, since he talked to two of the most anti-hizbullah “officials” in town – Jumblatt and Shattah (ex-official). Plus, either way, Jumblatt being in government with hizbullah, as any of his dinner party guests know and as all of my students know, has ZERO to do with an objective analysis of course!

Filkins then demonstrates why he was so badly equipped to do a story on a country or two that he has little experience in: he says this: “they [Hizbullah] are helping a largely shiite regime in syria.”"

""Six underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation along the Columbia River in Washington state were recently found to
be leaking radioactive waste, but there is no immediate risk to human health,
state and federal officials said on Friday." "The 586-square-mile
(1,518-square-km) Hanford Nuclear Reservation was established near the town of
Hanford in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government program
that developed the first atomic bombs.""

He not only invented a "cure" for cancer but...
(And in appreciation to his services, the Republican Party in US Congress, which he joined after obtaining citizenship in the era of George H.W Bush, the medal of freedom, in 1994, and he is the fourth person after Ronald Reagan, Margret Thatcher, and actor Sharlton Heston. He also won the medal of Ellis Island which is presented to prominent immigrants or their descendants who had made great contributions to the American civilization."
"وتقديرا لخدماته منحه الحزب
الجمهوري في الكونغرس، الذي انتمى اليه بعدما نال الجنسية في عهد بوش الاب،
"ميدالية الحرية" عام 1994. وهو الشخصية الرابعة بعد رونالد ريغان
ومارغريت تاتشر والممثل شارلتون هستون، كذلك نال وسام "اليس ايلاند" الذي
يقدم الى المهاجرين البارزين او ابنائهم الذين قدموا عطاءات كبرى للحضارة
الاميركية." (thanks Joe)

PS I once was visiting Houston and asked friends who are physicians there, and they laughed at his bombastic claims. No one knows who he is, one of them told me.

"In an interview on Al-Jazeera, Jumblat also said “the Lebanese government has
failed in implementing the self-dissociation policy, which prompted March 14
parties to fight on the side of the Syrian people.""

From Krim: "I love it how Americans like to harp that they have a so called free press. I
guess what they really mean is free to parrot their government's foreign policy
orientation. I stumbled on this from Yahoo New's home page, it's a picture
gallery by Reuters titled "Off duty rebels in Syria". It's basically a slideshow
humanizing the anti-government fighters in Syria.
Like this one, showing
a fighter sewing:
or
this one showing a fighter smoking hookah:
Would
the free and brave Western press ever give such a humanizing treatment to the
Taliban? And look at the language used in the caption, calling them rebels in
Syria and insurgents in Afghanistan."

From Ali, the Turkey correspondent: "There are some rumors in Turkey -still impossible to verify- about the
hidden wars between some FSA groups and Al Qaeda affiliated ones mostly
operating in northern Syria.

Syrian media has been reporting the deadly strifes of the FSA groups that
cannot share the troophies of looting but what I am telling is you a little bit
different. According to rumors, some FSA groups (mostly in Aleppo) informs
Syrian army about the their rival groups and thus the attacks of Syrian army
becomes more deadly. One of my journalist friend (prefers not to be named) told
me that sometimes FSA militants informing the army about the Al Qaeda affiliated
groups who are much more stronger and refusing to cooperate.

"They
inform the army about the location of arm depots, the location of headquarters
or even field hospitals of the rival groups and these critical informations help
army to destroy easily its strtategic targets. For instance, army hit one of
headquarters in Azaz las month with the help of a rival group. Sometimes they
give the information for money..." he told me. "

"A Qatari poet jailed for verses deemed seditious and insulting to his nation's emir faces 15 years behind bars after an appeals court cut back on his prison term Monday.
Human rights groups were outraged in November when a Qatari court first ruled that Mohammed Ajami must spend life in prison for penning verses that allegedly urged the overthrow of the government and insulted the emir."

""Argo and Zero Dark Thirty are only the latest
film productions the CIA has influenced in the 15 years since the Agency opened
its official liaison office to Hollywood. Tricia Jenkins examines the history of
this version of "Hollywood confidential" in The CIA in Hollywood: How the
Agency Shapes Film and Television. Short and dry, her book raises serious
ethical and legal questions about the relationship between the CIA and
Hollywood, and the extent to which we consume propaganda from one through the
other.""

""The U.S. military has determined that its forces weren't involved
in the alleged abduction and killing of civilians in a troubled province in
eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday. "In recent months, a thorough review
has confirmed that no coalition forces have been involved in the alleged
misconduct in Wardak province," Lt. Col. Les Carroll, a spokesman for the
U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement.""

""The ships are not capable of deploying helicopters or other air
assets, leaving the ships completely without air cover in a hostile environment.
And even if one overlooks their extreme vulnerability, there's the simple matter
that the "large landing ships" actually cannot hold that many people. While they
could, in an emergency, hold around 1,000 civilians each, the four ships now in
the Mediterranean would be able to carry only a very small fraction of the
estimated 30,000 Russian citizens in Syria. And that is not to mention whether
those needing to be evacuated could actually get to the port—a very big if
considering how dangerous travel in Syria is these days. If the Russians are
going to stage an evacuation in Syria, it is going to happen via air, not by
sea. No matter how many times the media triy to argue otherwise, the Russian
naval deployments in the Mediterranean are not an attempt to get more involved
in Syria but are, rather, a way of showing that "Russia is back" and that, after
a series of humiliating setbacks during the 1990s, its navy is once again
capable of maintaining a viable presence on the international stage."" (thanks Amir)

""Family physicians' offices appear to discriminate against people
of low socio-economic status, even when there is no economic incentive to do so
under Canada's system of publicly-funded universal health insurance, new
research has shown.""

Of course, I maintain that the alliance between Hizbullah and Syrian regime--as objectionable as it is--is political and not sectarian. Hizbullah was in a state of conflict with the regime from 1982 until late 1980s (if not later) but no one said that the conflict was due to a conflict between Twelver Shi`ism and `Alawite sect. And Nicholas (see post below this) is absolutely right: Shi`ite twelvers do consider `Alawites to be heretical.

From Nicholas: "Filkins then demonstrates why he was so badly equipped to do a story on a country or two that he has little experience in: he says this: “they [Hizbullah] are helping a largely shiite regime in syria.”
– This may make good copy but it is highly inaccurate – the Alawites are regarded by some large pockets of shiite thinking as unbelievers (especially in Iran)…. they are NOT AT ALL LIKE THE SHIITES OF HIZBULLAH… period. And lets leave aside the Baath party anti-religious side and the Hizbullah-Baath conflict etc.
Filkins may never have met an allawite (especially an allawite man), but celebrating easter, drinking on occasion and having “churches” is NOT a Hizbullah pasttime.So leave out the religous side which you dont understand.
At 3:32 – the purpose of Dexter’s piece – despite the occasional piety towards avoiding the unknown ahead, becomes clear: His piece and his “Dany” (or Ender’s “Dani”) showed that Hizbullah deeply fears the sunnis…. they should be taken down…. they think that the fall of assad means they are on their death bed… so ARM THE REBELS. Or at least that is the emotion he evokes here at 3:32."

From Ali, chief Turkey correspondent:
"Two days ago Washington Post claimed that for weaken An Nusrah , moderate groups
were given weapons from the depots of a Balkan country.

"The idea was to
get heavier stuff, intensify supply and make sure it goes to the good guys,”
said an Arab official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the operation. “If you want to weaken al-Nusra, you do it not by
withholding [weapons] but by boosting the other groups.” source:

But
NYT told a different story. For NYT, Saudi Arabia is the supporter of this new
arm shipment:

By
the way, I checked the fresh videos of FSA on Youtube. In many of them members
of Al Farouq battalion are using these new and sophisticated weapons. "Moderate"
Al Farouq really? As far as I remember, because of their "jihad" in Homs,
majority of Christians have to flee to Lebanon and some of them said that Al
Farouq forced them to pay jizziah..."

From Bahrain correspondent: "More on the LSE conference incident. Bahrain is thanking the UAE for its
censorship. The most outrageous thing is the last sentence of the article "It
called for "special care" to be taken to ensure impartiality and credibility in
GCC universities."

"You really need to watch this video.
Its gone viral on Bahrain's twittersphere. Here's a news report about it:
Activists have the license plate number of the SUV but the police are refusing
to do anything about it."

From David: "Human
Rights Watch said it compiled a list of those killed in the missile strikes from
cemetery burial records, interviews with relatives and neighbors, and
information from the Aleppo Media Center and the Violations Documentation
Center, a network of local activists.

I wish they would be honest and replace the word
'interviews' with "Skype sessions"."

Monday, February 25, 2013

From Joerg in Berlin: "maybe this is interesting:"'Wired for Repression' reveals how Western
companies provide surveillance systems to authoritarian countries that claim
some of the world's worst human rights records including Iran, Syria, Bahrain
and Tunisia."

""Dr Nick Draper from University College London, who has
studied the compensation papers, says as many as one-fifth of wealthy Victorian
Britons derived all or part of their fortunes from the slave economy." "Among
those revealed to have benefited from slavery are ancestors of the Prime
Minister, David Cameron, former minister Douglas Hogg, authors Graham Greene and
George Orwell, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and the new chairman of the Arts
Council, Peter Bazalgette.""

""Egyptian border guards have blocked an attempt to smuggle
around 20,000 litres of diesel fuel and gasoline via tunnels under the border
with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported
Saturday. Last week, Egyptian and Palestinian officials told AFP that Egyptian
forces flooded the tunnels in an attempt to shut them down.""

""Jewish youths on Sunday attacked a 40-year-old Palestinian cleaner
in Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported. Hassan Ausruf was filling the water tank of
his street cleaning vehicle when around 15 youths attacked him, his wife told
the Israeli daily Haaretz. "He asked them why they were attacking him and they
told him with utmost chutzpah 'because you're Arab,'" Nariman told Haaretz.""

""An autopsy on the body of Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old father of
two, showed that he died of "extreme torture" in Israeli custody and did not
have a cardiac arrest, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Detainee Affairs
said Sunday."" (thanks Amir)

""More strikingly, the animal advocacy group got a leaked video
of a Coast Guard combat medical training exercise that featured an instructor
whistling as he severed a goat's limbs with tree trimmers.""

“Our
forces ask for air support from foreigners, and children get killed in an
airstrike,” Karzai said in a speech at a military academy here, reinforcing his often truculent posture toward the
U.S.-backed international coalition that has long supported his
government."

" " "Our information was that Jaradat was being interrogated and then he died. Therefore we call for an international investigation into his death, that may have resulted from torture," Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqea said.""

" "The M-79 anti-tank weapons in particular appear to be giving the rebels new confidence to attack government positions and armor, said Jeff White of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who says he also noted the unexpected appearance of the weapons in rebel videos several weeks ago.""

When you see such reference to "secular" it merely refers to the gangs of the Free Syrian Army". " Activists reached via Skype also reported what they described as rival demonstrations in the city of Kafr Nabl in northern Idlib Province, a rebel-held area, between a group calling for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and a group seeking a secular state."

" "Egypt's Interior Ministry ordered 140,000 teargas canisters from the United States in January, which the US State Department only allowed to be exported without the company's name or any indication they were made in the U.S., the Egypt Independent reports Friday."" (thanks Amir)

This is a bad piece of reporting. 1) it makes it sound that if it wasnt for the incompetence of the Lebasnese government Western aid would have bern pouring into Lebanon. 2) she has the dubious honor of being the only Western reporter who refuses to mention the role of Hasriri family in arming with Saudi intelligence of asrmed gangs in Syria. 3). she focuses ob racism asnd hostility by christian allies of hizbullah toweards Syriasn refugees while ignoring similar hosility and racism by Christian elements in March 14 movement. 4) she mischaracterizes the stance of hizbullah when she said it was a poisition of denial about syrian refugees when Nasrallah publically broke with his ally Awn and called for separating the humanitarian issue from the political issue. 5) she cites an Arabic expression when she admitted to me that she does no know Arabic. 6) she singles out certain hariri run Sunni villages for praise in their treatment of refugees without informing readers thst those villages are also Qaidah affliated and are allies of Nusrah front. 7) she ues Zionist language in referring to the expulsion of Palestinian refugees in 1948 and falsely talks about a flight from "the arab- israeli conflict" as if the Palestinins are bystandards. Oh finally, Ms barnard has just been appointed Beirut bureau chief for New York Times.
p.s. sorry for typos. I am on the road and using a sony xperia tablet.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

" As’ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese-born professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, dispelled what he considered common Western misconceptions of the Palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation, such as that the Palestinian resistance had always been violent.
“The Palestinian people have been in a state of resistance for over a century,” he said. “But the movement began its resistance nonviolently, in the same ways as the rest of the civil rights movements throughout the world—petitions, demonstrations, sit-ins, peaceful letter writing campaigns, poetry—in the 1930s.”"

Americans invariably cite the positive things that de Tocqueville had to say about the US. Yet they never include the negative things like his annoyance at American propensity to say positive things about the US and their insistence that foreigners join in the praise. He thought for example that the press in France was freer and more eloquent than the press here.

From our correspondent Ali in Turkey:
" Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan said that Alevism is not a religion but a culture, hence, there is no need to recognize formally their places for worshiping. "In past we supposed that Alevis are people who likes Caliphate Ali very much but these have no concern with him." said Erdogan http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/22653369.asp

This is not the first time he speaks as an ulama lecturing especially on Alevism. He said “freak” for a cemevi (the place of worship of Alevis) and has been refusing to meet the demands of Alevis, that is official recognition. (Alevis who constitute at least 25% of Turkish society, have been struggling for official recognition for decades)

Ignorant western journalists that only looking Turkey through the secular-Islamist prism, and do not even know who the Alevis are (They tend to name Alevis as Alawites or Nusairis the term Turkish people usually use for describing Arab-Alevis as because there are Turkish, Kurdish and Zaza Alevis too) claimed that he is a moderate Islamist leader

After the u-turn in foreign policy towards Syria (He was calling Bashar Al Assad as 'My brother' just two years ago) the sectarianism became rampant. For instance, many times Turkish ministers or senior officials of Justice&Development Party replied Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of main opposition party (Republican People's Party) when he opposes the Turkish FM on Syria, to be a "sectarian alliance with Bashar Al Assad." (Kılıçdaroğlu is from Dersim province of Turkey and he is a Zaza-Alevi) or Pro-government media lash out journalists refusing to take a part in disinformation campaign on Syria by blaming them as 'secret Nusairis'

Contrary to Arab Alevis (or Alawites as in western media) Turkish and Zaza Alevis were completely irrelevant with Syria (Kurdish Alevis were mostly against Assad rule, because of the situation of Kurds in Syria) before the rampant sectarianism but now I may easily say that they are all supporting Assad thaks to the discourses of the government. When I read the news about Turkish Alevis in western media they also claims that “Alawites” are sensitive on Assad because of sharing the same sect, this is the cheapest way of propaganda and they are obviously relocating the causes and effects."

3. "We've become cruel. To ourselves as well, but mainly to the occupied population." Our army has become "a brutal occupation force, similar to the Germans in World War II. Similar, not identical."—Shalom, who clarifies that he is referring to the Nazis' persecution of non-Jewish minorities."

" "The drones will be based at first in the capital, Niamey. But military officials would like to eventually move them north to the city of Agadez, which is closer to parts of Mali where al-Qaeda cells have taken root. "That's a better location for the mission, but it's not feasible at this point," the official said, describing Agadez as a frontier city "with logistical challenges." The introduction of Predators to Niger fills a gap in U.S. military capabilities over the Sahara, most of which remains beyond the reach of its drone bases in East Africa and southern Europe. The Pentagon also operates drones from a permanent base in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, and from a civilian airport in Ethiopia.""

" "Yesterday US officials blocked a Russian-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning Thursday's multiple terror bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The death toll of the bombings, which came amid the ongoing US-led proxy war to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rose to 83 yesterday, with over 200 wounded. Some 22 people died in three car bombings in northern Damascus. The main car bomb in central Damascus near the ruling Baath Party headquarters and a school killed 63, including many children."" (thanks Amir)

" "Despite accusations of violence against Ishaq reaching back decades, Pakistani author and analyst Ayesha Siddiqa cautioned that the terror leader's arrest could be nothing more than a public relations move by the Pakistani government. Siddiqi said Ishaq was likely taken into custody merely to "cool the rising tempers" over the wanton violence.""

I had a bad dream in my first night in Colorado. I dreamt that I moved out from my parents' home in Beirut into a group home in Dupont Circle in Wasington DC. Thomas Friedman was my roommate in that home. We moved in and Friedman and I were looking down from the window when he fell out of the window straight on his head. I alas could not save him. True story--i mean true dream.

" This is
a good blogpost analyzing the recent Wall Street journal article on the Khawalid (in fact the khawalid are this blogger’s
specialty).Abdel Hadi Khalaf, as I have pointed out to you
before, is a Bahraini leftist dissident and academic based in Sweden.
I hope you get to meet him some day because you would really like
him. The recent discovery of the Khawalid by the Western media is quite
interesting.They are quite late as usual. Bahrainis have been
talking about them for some time now, at least since the mid-2000s, and
especially when the Bandar Report, detailing the regime’s political
naturalization program.The King, which has the image of a
reformist in the West, allowed the Khawalid to operate freely in Bahrain ever
since his ascent to the throne while at the same time, allowing the Crown Prince
to implement his economic reform projects (which may have actually accelerated
the uprising as it lead to an increasing gap between the rich and the poor –
Kind of like Bashar AlAssad economic reforms which Bassam AlHaddad talks about
in a Jadaliyya article).This was extremely smart.As Bahrain implemented political naturalization and became increasingly
repressive and sectarian, it also became more economically liberal.Political naturalization/sectarianism and the crackdown on dissent were
the Kings insurance plan just in case the people aren’t satisfied with Bahrain’s
economic reforms.As the same time, the economic reforms allowed
the King to portray himself as a reformist.It is a stroke of
genius I have to say but unfortunately for him, February 14, 2011 came
along.Of course the sectarianism that the Khawalid nurtured among
ordinary sunnis in Bahrain against the shia was quite useful during the uprising
and the regime was able to portray the uprising as a shia threat against
sunnism.Sunnis who participated in the uprising were placed on a
list of sunni traitors and many of the prominent ones were arrested and severely
tortured. Indeed, the sectarianism that resulted is quite unprecedented. During
the intifada of the 1990s, I never heard derogatory terms such as safawis,
majoos, rafidha, awlad almutaa etc. uttered in Bahrain.They are
quite common now and you even hear these terms used on national television and
in loyalist newspapers.Of course the rise of salafism and
wahabism in the Arab world has made this even worse as has the role played by
the sectarian government of Iraq. We never had religious extremists in Bahrain
(well if we did they were a minority and were mostly ignored) and now they are
extremely powerful.I can’t see this ending unless the entire Arab
world moves away from political Islam.

Back to the Wall Street journal article, the new twist is the focus
on the anti-western sentiment of the Khawalid. I like how the West nurtures the
rise of these people and then all of a sudden freak out when they end up being
anti-western.Of course so long as America’s interests are secure
no one is going to care. After all the anti-western sentiment displayed by the
Khawalid is all talk and for public consumption and is kept in check by the
strong alliance between the regime and the US and Britain."

"Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 (LN 144) was a regularly scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo via Benghazi. An aircraft serving this flight was shot down by Israeli fighter jets in 1973.
At 10:30 on 21 February 1973, the 727–224 left Tripoli, and became lost because of a combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 pm local). It entered Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula, where it was intercepted by two Israeli F-4 Phantom IIs, and was shot down.[1] Of the 113 people on board, there were five survivors, including the co-pilot.[1][2]"(thanks AK)

What fails the Smell Test here is that both Enders and Filkins employ a fake name “dany/dani” who 1) says the same thing in two different pieces for two different news orgs and 2) he says DAMAGING THINGS about Hizbullah that give the appearance to the unknowing reader in the US that the reporter has managed to really get inside the super secret, evil apparatus of HIZBULLAH!Even though, for those of us a bit more familiar with the terrain, the whole “dany” episode smacks of many past examples over the years of either “false flag” operations or an unknowing journo getting duped.

I certainly hope, at the least, it is NOT the case of journos and activists manufacturing quotes, sources, scenes etc as we see on occasion in Syria, Iraq int he past etc (as but two examples).

The process of verifying who someone is should simply not be attempted by journos unless done very rigorously when COVERING ONE OF THE MOST SECRETIVE ORGNIZATIONS IN THE WORLD. I mean come on, NO ONE in Hizbullah, both reporters say, will talk to them, and they BOTH find a miracle dany (a christian cover name in any case mind you!) and BELIEVE HIM, DONT EVEN RAISE THE difficulty of verifying his identity with readers…. And then this Dany, FOR BOTH, says “the truth” to these American reporters…and it is slightly rich in “admissions” of guilt and snippets of off-putting extremity which make dany’s party look BAD." (thanks Nicholas)

""Israel's Ministry of Energy and Water Resources has awarded
the first energy exploration license in the disputed Golan Heights to a local
subsidiary of U.S.- based Genie Energy Corp. (GNE) "The company believes, based
on its preliminary analysis and interpretation of existing geological data, that
the newly issued license area may contain significant quantities of conventional
oil and gas in relatively tight formations," Genie Energy said today in an
e-mailed statement. The Golan was captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war,
and again served as a battlefield when the Syrians unsuccessfully tried to
retake it in the 1973 conflict.""

""Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments
Company (ADASI), a Tawazun subsidiary, today signed a teaming agreement for the
two companies to address the growing Middle East market for unmanned systems.""

""The US state of Georgia has hurriedly executed Andrew Allen Cook
amid a legal scramble to carry out capital sentences before its supply of lethal
injection drugs reaches its expiry date of 1 March." "Georgia is also pushing to
execute Warren Hill, who has been diagnosed as intellectually disabled, before 1
March.""

""Harding, a graduate student at NYU, said she felt it was
inappropriate to assign elementary school students math problems like, "In a
slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship.
1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?" The second question got even more
graphic, asking, "One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he
get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day.
How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves
get whipped together in one month?" ""

""The UN has taken the rare step of invoking its legal immunity to
rebuff claims for compensation from 5,000 victims of the Haiti cholera epidemic,
the worst outbreak of the disease in modern times and widely believed to have
been caused by UN peacekeepers importing the infection into the country. Citing
a convention laid down in 1946, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon,
telephoned President Michel Martelly of Haiti to tell him that the UN was not
willing to compensate any of the claimants. The epidemic has killed almost
8,000 people and stricken hundreds of thousands more – about one
out of every 16 Haitians."" (thanks Amir)

"Last year there was
a short lived discussion in German media and political circles, if the country
really should sell tanks to the house of Saud. It was a surprise that this was
discussed at all, because such weapon deals are usually kept secret and
discussed and approved without Parliamentary control by the Federal Security
Council.

Now, after an
parliamentarian request for information by the socialist party Die Linke, it
turned out that Germany doubled its weapons export to the gulf states in 2012.
Best customers and partners in democracy are the GCC countries
Bahrain, Qatar,Kuwait, Oman,Saudi Arabia etc.
Saudi Arabia alone bought
hardware for 1.2 Billion Euros! Unfortunately there are no details on what
exactly was sold to Bahrain, but sales also increased there. Another exemplary democracy profiting from increased weapon
deliveries was Algeria..

"The U.S. military launched 506 strikes from unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan last year, according to Pentagon data, a 72% increase from 2011 and a sign that American commanders may begin to rely more heavily on remote-controlled air power to kill Taliban insurgents as they reduce the number of troops on the ground. Though drone strikes represented a fraction of all U.S. air attacks in Afghanistan last year, their use is on the rise even as American troops have pulled back from ground and air operations and pushed Afghan soldiers and police into the lead. In 2011, drone strikes accounted for 5% of U.S. air attacks in Afghanistan; in 2012, the figure rose to 12%."

It is not amusing to read Anne Barnard (the new NYT Beirut bureau chief) consistently strives to justify car bombs by Syrian armed groups. Look at how many attempts she made in this one article: 1) First she says that the bombing is good because it erodes support for Asad regime: "Witnesses, including people who had been living near the party
headquarters in the Mazraa district, said the bombings were eroding what
little confidence they had left that Mr. Assad’s forces could preserve
at least some semblance of normalcy in Damascus, the Syrian capital,
where armed insurgents have attacked with increasing brazenness." 2) Secondly she tries to imply that we don't know who was behind the bombing that targeted among other targets the headquarters of the ruling party. "There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The main umbrella
opposition group seeking to depose Mr. Assad condemned the bombings as
it convened a meeting in Cairo." 3) She then moves to tell you that members of the security forces were killed in the blast: "which the group described as a booby-trapped car next to a military
checkpoint. It said that at least 16 of the dead were members of the
security forces." so 16 were members of the security forces, and I am sure that Barnard has verified the identity of every one of the 300 dead or injured. She says the same about other blasts: "At least 13 other people in Damascus were killed, 10 of them in the
security forces, in two other car bombings near checkpoints in the
Barzeh district..." 4) She then proceeds to tell you that even if innocent people are killed in car bombs by armed groups, it does not matter that much because the regime also kills innocent people: "At the same time, the government has decimated pro-rebel suburbs with
airstrikes and artillery, leaving vast areas depopulated and
traumatized." 5) She then cites unnamed experts to maintain that "extreme" elements were behind the car bombs, thus exonerating the presumably secular and liberal armed groups that the media want us to believe they exist: "Some outside experts speculated that the bombings on Thursday had been
carried out by the more militant extremists among the rebels to weaken
the government’s argument that it offers security..."

"The testimony also provided a glimpse of Hezbollah’s tradecraft. During a
visit to Cyprus in December 2011, Mr. Yaacoub bought three SIM cards,
two for Ayman and one for himself. He bought each of the cards at a
different kiosk, which Mr. Kannaourides said was to evade detection." So they bought two SIM cards and not one? Wow. Thanks for this important trial to learn about those sophisticated techniques of Hizbullah.

"Both middle-class Syrians and religious minorities are increasingly
worried by the way even moderate opposition groups talk of an “Islamic
state” to replace Mr Assad’s regime. “We’re bringing back the rule of
the Sunnis,” proclaims a fighter in Aleppo’s Tawhid battalion. “We’re
the majority, so it’s only fair.” Alawites have reason to be afraid. It
is hard to imagine them moving back to mixed cities such as Homs. Many Syrians have for years looked to mildly Islamist Turkey as an
example. “But they aren’t an Islamic state,” grumbles a rebel fighter.
“We want something stronger.”"

"Gulf countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have supplied
mostly light weapons, many through private donors. Libya has chipped in.
But the rebels are equipped mainly with AK-47 rifles, home-made rockets
and kit captured from Mr Assad’s arms depots and barracks." So all those advanced weapons that I see in pictures in the hands of the rebels are merely optical illusions?

Yesterday, the Free Syrian Army issued series of communiques in which it claimed to be battling Hizbullah forces in a Lebanese village east of Hirmil near the Syrian border (the village is Hawsh Sayyid `Ali). The communiques bragged that their shells fell on the infidel Shi`ite mosque. New TV dispatched the dynamic correspondent Nawal Birri to investigate. She found no trace of fighting or bombings and the residents were just laughing at the lies and fabrications of the FSA.

There were car bombs yesterday. In the past, as New TV reported, the Syrian National Council would automatically blame the regime. This time, the Syrian National Coalition (unlike what the New York Times said today) blamed "whoever is behind it", thus almost admitting that Syrian armed groups were behind it. 300 people were killed and injured in the blasts. I never knew that car bombs would become popular until the Western governments and media fell in love with Syrian armed groups.

From Adam: "Their generosity has been unparalleled with the United States, if only
their charity would start at home or at least with fellow Arabs that are truly
suffering. I love the baffoon that answered the phone with "“Tell
me what you need,” the embassy staffer said."

"The United Arab Emirates has signed $1.4 billion in military contracts that includes $200 billion worth of US-made drones, contributing to a veritable arms race in drone technology and heightening geo-political tensions in the Middle East." (thanks John)

I'm doing some research on the people writing about Syria and came across
Kenneth M. Pollack, a member of the Washington establishment from the think tank
and executive branches. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for
Middle East Policy at Brookings, and previously directed the center for a few
years. The Saban Center's
website is happy to report that he is fluent in English. Thank goodness for
that.

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

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